


Trust

by ashleygrusz



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleygrusz/pseuds/ashleygrusz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saya had worked hard in order to protect her siblings from their past. After moving to Forks, she beame an outcast for having a past that no one understood, something which has never bothered her before. But when a new family moves to town, its members are eager to break down the boundaries that she has oh so carefully created between herself and the residents of Forks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Alice**

Jasper and I have been together for a long time.  Our entire family knows that the two of us are mates.  But they also know that we are still waiting for our other mate.

It’s a rare occurrence even in the vampire world, but occasionally there are vampires who have more than one mate.  I know that Jasper and I have another mate.

I’ve seen her.  For years, I’ve been waiting to have a vision that would tell me where she is, or even what she looks like.  But I never have.

I can tell that Jasper is beginning to wonder if she had already died, and even I had begun to give up hope, until now.

We were all trying to figure out where we would be moving to now that our youth has become suspicious.  We all turned to Esme.  She hasn’t chosen a place for us to live in decades so we thought that she could choose this time.

But just as we tell her that, I gasped.  In my mind, I can see a girl.  I can’t make out anything particular about her features, all I can tell is that she has blonde hair, but not the normal dirty blonde that is so common.  No, it looks white, as though her hair is made out of moonlight, a gentle silvery color that could never be recreated using dyes.

I’ve seen her before, the mate that Jasper and I have been waiting for.  But I’ve never seen anything around her, or even what she looks like.  In fact, I still can’t make out any of her features.  But, I can see a sign next to her.

I’ve also seen this sign before, from the times when we have lived there.  Our mate is in Forks, Washington.  But how have I never seen her there before?

I can tell that the others want to know why I am acting like this, but I can’t tell them.  I’m still shocked that I finally know where my mate is that I can’t even move.

Edward knows this, and so he explains for me, “Alice just saw where her and Jasper’s mate lives.”

Everyone looked at me to confirm and I nodded.  “It’s true.  She’s in Forks, Washington.  I think she lives there now.  Esme, I know that you were supposed to choose, but if you wouldn’t mind -”

Esme quickly cut me off. “Of course we’ll go to Forks.  We already have the house there waiting for us and this is an excellent chance for you and Jasper to meet this mate that you have been waiting for.”

Once this was decided, Jasper and I left the room to start packing.  It would still take us several days to enroll in the high school there and get everything set up, but I knew that Jasper and I would do everything we could to speed the process along.  After all, we had already been waiting for decades, we wanted to meet her as soon as possible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Saya**

I had moved to Forks, Washington almost two years ago, after I had been emancipated from my parents.  Since then, I’ve found a cheap house to live in and have managed to stay near the top of my class at the local high school.

This will be my junior year, but what I’m most excited about is that I will be turning sixteen next month.  Once that happens, I’ll have to try to find a driver’s ed course.  If I manage to do that, my life will be much easier considering how, while this is a small town, walking through it still sucks.  Especially when I’m walking to school in the morning.

Like this morning.  I’ve always tried to avoid getting too close to my classmates, mostly because I barely have time to do my schoolwork, take care of my family and get to my job on time, let alone hang out with them.  But, it also prevents them from wondering why I would want to be emancipated, and that is a discussion that I never wish to have again.

I had been the talk of the town when I had first moved here.  They all wanted to know why a fourteen-year-old girl would want to live on her own and raise two children.  I mean, it sounds great in theory, but in practice, it’s ridiculously hard, especially since one of the court’s conditions was that I had to finish high school.

The rumors had just started to die down by now, but I noticed something in the parking lot.  There were three expensive cars in the parking lot.  This wouldn’t have been a big deal, but I had arrived early that day because I still hadn’t gotten my schedule yet, so very few people should have been there already and because Forks is a small town where very few people would be able to afford such cars.

I was curious, but I certainly wasn’t going to get involved.  My motto since my emancipation hearing had been to keep my nose out of other people’s business and just find a way to survive.  That wasn’t going to change now.

As I came close to the office, I saw a man who looked a little older than me standing outside.  One of my main issues was that I tried to avoid men at all costs.  Being too close to them sometimes made me remember my past and that was something which I never wanted to go back to.

But as I came closer, I couldn’t help but be concerned by the expression I saw on his face.  It almost looked as though he was in pain.  For a fleeting moment, I wondered if he was like me.  If maybe he had a past which haunted him everyday, and which sometimes gave him flashbacks of a time when death seemed a better choice than to live another day.  But I knew that that was ridiculous.  After all, in a town as small as this, how many people with pasts like mine could there be?

Still, I found that I wanted to help him, I wanted to know him.  These feelings shocked me, after all, I had gone from being scared of men to tolerating their presence.  Even now, I could still remember the pain that I had received from men in the past, both purposefully and indirectly and I couldn’t imagine opening myself up to another man who could do exactly the same to me, or worse, make me like that woman.

Despite this, I didn’t want to deny aid to anyone who needed it, just like I had been denied, so I walked up to him and asked, “Are you lost?”

I knew that he wasn’t from Forks by looking at him, but when he turned to look at me, he seemed surprised, as though he knew me.

As he opened his mouth to answer my question, I stepped back.  That look of recognition scared me, made me think that maybe he was somehow connected to my mother.  I wanted to run away, but I knew that if I did that then I would draw more attention to myself, so I forced myself to stay where I was when he frowned.  Still looking slightly unhappy, he told me, “I need to go to the main office, but before I stepped inside, I wanted a moment to get some fresh air.”

He had a southern accent which seemed to be almost familiar to me.  While it did bring me some comfort, I was still wary of him, so I told him, “Oh, if that’s all, then I assume that you know that you’re standing right in front of it.  Now if you don’t mind, I need to get my schedule.”

I was about to make a hasty exit when he stopped me again, “If that’s the case, then why don’t we go in together?  I’ve gotten enough fresh air now and we do seem to be going to the same place.”

I didn’t want to be so close to him, but I could tell that he probably wasn’t going to let the matter drop and the faster I got my schedule, the sooner I would be away from him.  So we walked into the office together in silence.  But I was surprised to see a large group of people standing inside.  What surprised me the most was how beautiful they all were.  Actually, now that I think of it, the man standing next to me is attractive as well.  Maybe they’re his family.  Though there did seem to be more of them than you would expect for the average family, none of them looked similar and they all seemed very young.

I didn’t have a lot of time to ponder this though, as Mrs. Cope noticed our entrance and called to me.  I had planned to wait for the others to finish their business, but she said that it could take a while and if I waited, then I would be late to class, so I walked up to get my schedule.  All the while, I could feel several sets of eyes staring at my back.

Once I had obtained my schedule, I saw that my first class was going to be Gym.  What a perfectly horrible way for me to start my day.  But I knew that I would need to go anyway, so I left the office once I had my schedule.

Or that was my plan at least.  Before I got to the door, I was stopped by a woman in the group that I had seen earlier.

She was a few inches shorter than me and had a happy grin on her face.  She moved as if to hug me, and I quickly flinched back.  I hated it when people outside of my family touched me, but the girl looked almost hurt by the action.

“Can I help you with something?”

She quickly said that she didn’t need help and I nearly ran out of the room.  I didn’t like being in such close quarters with so many people, especially men.  But while I walked away, I wondered why it felt almost as though it wouldn’t have been bad to stay, as though I knew those two people who had talked to me.  As though they could keep me safe.  What’s more, I felt like I could talk to them.  Like I could tell them how hard it was to have to raise my younger brother and sister alone.  About how the rumors that had been spread about us bothered me, no matter how much I tried to hide it.

How ridiculous.

Abandoning that foolish line of thought, I turned my focus to how I was going to need to buy laundry detergent and crayons on my way home today.

**Jasper**

I could tell that Alice was right about our mate being in Forks.  The girl who had stopped to talk to me must be her.

But what I couldn’t understand was why she was so scared of us.  I could sense it.  From the moment that she had stopped to talk to me outside, she had been uneasy, but when Alice had reached out to touch her, that feeling had turned into terror.

It was odd.  Normally when a person’s mate was around, they would calm down immediately, even if they were still human.  They could sense our protective instincts.  And this girl had calmed down.  It felt as though she wanted to talk to us, but then it had changed into shock, and finally, fear.

So why was she so scared of us?

I considered asking Alice, but I could tell that she was just as confused as I was, and that the girl’s actions had hurt her.  We would have to figure that out later though, as the woman behind the desk began speaking.

“Oh, I see that you’ve met that girl.”

Intrigued by the way that she said that, I quickly asked, “Who is she?”

“Her name is Saya Sakamoto.  She moved here a few years ago.  But she doesn’t live with her parents.  She lives alone with two children and supposedly hasn’t spoken to her parents since she moved here.”  Mrs. Cope told us her story with all the prejudice of a small town.  Still, it was interesting.

However, that was all the information that we were able to get out of her before she began to ask us what classes we wanted to take.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that Alice was choosing courses that were available during specific time periods, and she was doing it for both of us.  I was confused until I realized that Saya had come into the office to pick up her schedule.

Alice was signing us up to be in most of her classes.

It concerned me slightly that Saya may wonder why we would be in most of her classes, but I was too busy thinking about her fear earlier to concern myself about it too much.  Besides, it was so late to be picking classes that neither Alice nor I were able to get carbon copies of her schedule, or of each other’s schedule, though I suppose that that was normal since I was enrolling as a senior and she and Saya would be juniors this year.

One way or another, we would learn about our mate, after all, it was our duty to protect her.

**Alice**

Watching my other mate flinch away from me hurt.  I couldn’t understand why she would do that.  Didn’t she know that we would never hurt her?  That we would kill anyone who tried?

It doesn’t matter though.  She’ll learn that soon enough.  Now that I’ve met Saya, I’ve been seeing clearer visions of our futures together.  I can see that we will be together someday.

And I think we may be together with those children that the office worker had mentioned.  I wonder why they seemed so important to Saya.

Edward told us that Mrs. Cope is thinking about the possibility of them being Saya’s own children.  Could that be true?

Not that it makes a difference.  All that matters is getting to that future.  If Saya has children, then we will love them as well.  And the first part of that is to get into at least a few of her classes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Saya**

Despite telling myself continuously that I wouldn’t think about those transfer students, they plagued my thoughts all through the school day.  Even after I left to go to work, I still thought about them.  Especially the blonde man and the pixie who had tried to hug me.

I was curious about them, but I didn’t see them after that.  Not surprising.

The entire school knew that there were new students, five in total, and that while they had been enrolled today, they hadn’t unpacked yet and so had taken the day off.

For once, I listened to the gossip eagerly, though I knew that it was more than likely false.  All the rumors about me had been.

Still, I ignored it.  I had more important things to worry about.  Like making sure that my customers had enough drinks and food.  That was the best way to get tips.

I was so busy ignoring the transfer students’ presence in my mind, that I didn’t notice the man who suddenly reached out from his booth and grabbed my ass.  It wasn’t my fault, but I should have been careful to pay more attention to my surroundings.

It didn’t happen often, since everyone in town knew that I was underage, but occasionally there would be a visitor from elsewhere who would assume that I was eighteen or one of the residents would get so drunk that they wouldn’t care.  And this man was clearly drunk.

My shift was almost over, but I needed to find a way to get out of this situation without causing a scene that would get me fired.  I needed this job too much to risk it in order to get rid of a pervert.

Just as I was trying to come up with a solution, a pale hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his, forcing him to let me go.  Looking up at the owner of said hand, I found myself staring into the golden eyes of my buddy from this morning.

**Alice**

After we had all set up our schedules, Mrs. Cope had oh so  **kindly** suggested that we take the day off in order to unpack and get some school supplies.  It had almost physically hurt to leave the school when I knew that if I had gone to class, I would have been able to talk to Saya and get closer to her.  But Jasper and I knew that we couldn’t call attention to our family, so we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would just have to wait until tomorrow to get to know her.

But once we got home, we found out some interesting things about our little mate.  Edward couldn’t read her mind and according to Mrs. Cope she tended to avoid people.  And once Jasper told me about her emotions upon meeting us, the mysteries just seemed to keep piling up.

I knew that it would take time for us to find the answers to these questions.  I fully intended to wait, but then I had another vision of Saya.  I saw her being groped by a strange man.

But then, it got worse.  I saw her fighting him, and getting hurt badly.  Seeing this, I grabbed Jasper and got his car from the garage.  We both would have preferred to run, but knew that that would be too risky if she asked us questions.  Besides, it looked like we still had a little time before my vision came true.

In truth, we had just pulled up to the small diner when we saw that bastard reaching out to grope Saya.  Jasper immediately ran to her and pulled his hand off of her.

I could see the surprise in her eyes at being rescued so suddenly, and I was concerned that she would eventually get involved, so I reached around Jasper to pull her to me.

My only intention in doing so had been to get her out of the line of fire, but once she was beside me and obviously too surprised to stop me, I couldn’t resist wrapping an arm around her waist.

I could tell that Jasper wanted to harm the man, but I told him in a voice that no human could hear that it hadn’t been too bad when we arrived and that if he did so, it would only scare Saya.  Upon seeing my logic, he leaned down to inform the drunk man, “Pay your bill and leave the diner now.”

The man likely wanted to argue, but after seeing the look in Jasper’s eyes, he thought better of it.  Smart man.  Jasper was just barely able to stop himself from attacking the man as is.  If he had argued, he’d probably have ended up with several broken bones at least.

Still, as he moved to comply with Jasper’s order, I couldn’t help but add, “And I think that your waitress deserves a nice tip for her troubles, don’t you?”

Saya looked at me when I said this, obviously over her initial shock, but I hushed her by saying, “Your shift is about to end, right?  Why don’t you take care of this man’s bill and then Jasper and I will give you a ride home?”

“You don’t have to do that.  I can walk home.”

“But you don’t need to.  Our car is right outside and it isn’t a good idea for a young woman to be walking alone in the dark,” Jasper added in his smooth accent.


	4. Chapter 4

**Saya**

I wanted to argue against their assumption that I couldn’t take care of myself, especially if that assumption led to me getting into a car with two strangers.  But I somehow felt so safe with these two and what’s more, I found myself wanting to be with them for a little while longer.  Normally, that wouldn’t have been enough to dissuade me, but it was a long walk home and looked like it would start to rain soon.

So I took their advice and handled my would-be lover’s check before hurriedly changing out of my uniform.  When I got back, they were waiting by the door for me.  Seeing them there, I realized that I hadn’t seen them sitting down to eat and now they were leaving?

“You don’t have to drive me you know.  I mean, you don’t even know me.  You two should stay here and eat.”

“We aren’t doing it because we have to.  We want to.  And we didn’t come here to eat, we wanted to get directions.  But since we’re driving you home, I’m sure that you can help us.  Also, I’m Alice Cullen and this is Jasper Hale.  You are?”

“Saya Sakamoto.”

“There now, we all know each other now, so there is no reason for us not to help you.”

I opened my mouth to contradict this statement when I heard Jasper chuckle, “You might as well give in, darlin’.  Once Alice has her mind made up about something, she won’t let it go easily.”

Seeing the truth of this statement, I didn’t protest as Alice once again wrapped her arm around my waist to lead me to their car.  Once there, Jasper opened the door to the backseat and she let me go as I climbed in.  But she quickly followed me in and wrapped her arm back around me

As Jasper began to drive, I wanted to ask them about where they lived since I couldn’t exactly give them directions without knowing where they wanted to end up.  But before I could ask, we passed a small restaurant and I remembered that I needed to buy groceries for tonight’s dinner.

“Excuse me.”

“What is it, darlin?

“I was just wondering is it would be okay with you if you dropped me off at the supermarket.  I need to buy groceries for tonight.  Ah, or you just drop me off here and I can give you the directions to your house.”

**Jasper**

“Of course we don’t mind taking you to the supermarket.  After all, we’re already here, aren’t we?” Alice replied cheerfully, though I was slightly surprised by her desire to buy food before going home.  But then, I guess that’s normal when you need to eat everyday.

Oh well, it’s just one of the little surprises that come from being mated to a human.

Once we got to the supermarket, Saya tried to tell us that we could just leave her there, as though we would just allow her to walk home in the dark carrying what could very well be heavy bags.

Why would she even want to do that?  Can’t she at least try to depend on us, just a little?

Well, I suppose it’s possible as she eventually allowed us to help her carry the groceries that she was buying throughout the store with Alice trying to get Saya to open up to us at least a little bit.

Normally, I would have tried to contribute to the conversation, given that Saya was my mate as well.  But I didn’t want to make our relationship with her even worse by trying to talk to her.  I had noticed that she was already skittish simply being close to Alice, but that my presence made her feel even more….afraid?

It’s odd and I can’t quite figure out why Saya would feel so intensely afraid of us, though at the same time she is also feeling the contentment that often comes from being near one’s mates, though not on as large a scale as ours, but I know that there’s nothing I can do about it.

Hopefully Alice will be able to convince our little mate that we meant her no harm, and then we would be able to start a real relationship.  Though God, that will be hard to convince Saya of.  Humans aren’t exactly used to the idea of having multiple partners in a monogamous relationship.

No, before there was any chance of Saya joining me and Alice, we will have to somehow get the odd human to trust us, though it looked like Alice may have an easier time with that.  Saya seemed to be calmer around her than me.

I was jarred out of my thoughts when Saya reached up to take the groceries that I had been carrying for her out of my hands at the check-out.  While it went against the grain for me to allow one of my mates to pay for herself, especially since our investigation of Saya had revealed that she didn’t have a lot of money, I knew that I would only arouse her suspicion by trying to buy them for her.

So I would let her pay for her own things.  For now.

After our trip to the supermarket, I drove Saya to her house with Alice lounging next to her, still chatting about every topic she could think of.  It probably looked as though the little pixie was just trying to fill the silence, but I knew that she was hoping to provoke some kind of a reaction from Saya.

Hopefully a good one so that we could find a way to get her to open up to us.  Unfortunately, the opposite seemed to happen, as I could feel Saya becoming tenser by the minute.

I would have told Alice to stop, but we had already arrived at her house.  As soon as Saya saw this, she said, “Thank you for driving me.  It is darker than I expected it to be at this time.  Oh and where did you two say that you live?”

Hearing that question reminded me that we had told her that we didn’t know how to get home.  At the same time though, I didn’t want to have to tell her where we lived in case we had to make changes to the house and she saw us making them.  There was no way we could explain our speed and strength logically to a human.

Luckily, Alice had always been known for saving the day.  “Oh, we didn’t know how to get there from the diner, but I think I remember how to get back from this street.  Thank you for the offer, though.”

Saya pursed her lips, looking as though she was considering whether or not to call us out on our lie, but she eventually decided against it.  As she got out of the car, Alice and I quickly picked up Saya’s groceries and carried them to the door.  Once more, she looked ready to protest, but it seemed that she had come to accept the fact that Alice and I could only be pushed so far.

After we had carried the bags into the house, not even Alice could come up with an excuse for us to stay, so we bid Saya a quick farewell.  Alice hugged her quickly, obviously enjoying the feeling of having our mate in our arms.  In all honesty, I would have enjoyed that chance as well, but I knew that Saya would reject it due to the fear that spiked the moment Alice’s arms went around her.

I suppose that will have to wait for another day.

Once we had gotten back into our car, I drove down to the end of the street before I saw Saya leave her house.  I stopped the car, thinking that I might be able to go back and offer to giver her another ride.  Alice stopped me by placing a hand on my arm, telling me to wait.

As we sat there, I saw that Saya was only going to the house across the way from her own.  Shortly after, I heard the laughter of children and Saya crossed the street to her home holding the hands of two young children.

Her young children, perhaps?  Though I wasn’t able to find any records of Saya having given birth, not all people choose to do so in a hospital, and I didn’t want to dig too deeply into her past.

I’d like to think that Saya will one day tell Alice and I the truth.


	5. Chapter 5

**Saya**

After Alice and Jasper had dropped me off, I quickly put my groceries into their respective places, only leaving out those things that I would need for that night’s dinner.  Then I went to the house across the street in order to get the kids from Amy.

Amy is a woman who lives across from me with her husband and three children.  She and her husband have been kind to me ever since I moved here, though they probably believe that Mana and Itsuki are my children, just like the rest of the town.

Either way, I’m lucky to have them.  Their children are about the same age as Itsuki and Mana, so Amy often drives the two of them to school along with her own children.  On top of that, she watches them for me after school while I go to work.

If it weren’t for that, I probably wouldn’t be able to live here as easily as I do now, and I certainly don’t want to take advantage of her kindness by forcing her to watch them for even longer.

As I walk back with Mana and Itsuki, something that Amy said as we left stuck with me in the back of my mind.

“You’ve raised your children well, Saya.”

Yeah, Amy definitely believes that they are mine.  I’m sure that most of the town thinks that as well.

I never understood that.  Mana is seven years old and Itsuki is five, so I would have had to have had them when I was eight and ten.  Not exactly common ages to get pregnant, although, I suppose that the world has seen stranger things.

I’ve told anyone who ever asked me that Mana and Itsuki are my siblings, but I’m pretty sure that they just dismissed it as a way to cover up my scandal.  As though I care enough about what they think to create a lie for them.

Still, the way that Amy said it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Our mother is a drug addict.  She had a different man practically every day.  Drugs and sex were her entire world and she was willing to do anything to get more.  I imagine that she still is.

The truth is that the three of us were accidents.  Our mother’s birth control failed, though, considering how many miscarriages and abortions she got, I’m not sure she even used any.  Regardless, when she was pregnant with the three of us, she either didn’t have the money for an abortion, or realized she needed one too late.

After I was born, she still continued on her path.  There were times when I was young that she would disappear for days and I would have to steal food.

A couple of times, I considered just taking off.  It wasn’t like she would have missed me, but I had nowhere else to go.

Once, I even considered trying to be like her.  After all, her lifestyle of drugs and sex obviously gave her some form of happiness for her to continue that way.  But in the end, I couldn’t stand the idea of being anything like her.

More often than not, I considered just getting rid of myself.  That way, Mother wouldn’t have to “deal with me” and suffer anymore.  She always complained that without me, her life would be so much easier and that more men would be interested in her.

I might have given in to that urge, but then she got pregnant again.  It wasn’t uncommon, but this time, she hadn’t kept track of her period and hadn’t known that she was pregnant until she went into an early labor.

That was how my younger sister, Mana was born.

After that, I knew that I couldn’t die and leave her alone.  Mother didn’t care about her, and would occasionally hit Mana when she would cry for food.  So, taking care of Mana became my job, and one that I enjoyed.

As Mother had always complained, it wasn’t easy.  At the same time, I loved it when Mana would laugh as she tugged on my then-short hair.

Of course, these moments were often ruined by Mother coming in to try to slap Mana to get her to be quiet.  Attempts that I would always try to put myself in between.

Occasionally, I’ve wondered how I survived my infancy when I didn’t have a big sister to protect me from her.

Regardless, I survived and so did Mana.  We had settled into a routine by the time that Itsuki was born two years later.

Then, it became even harder as I had to raise two children with very little help from Mother.  The fact that I was only ten and didn’t know much about children didn’t help, but we managed.

After all, they were my reason for living.

We stayed with Mother for several years, mostly because we had nowhere else to go.  Then, a few years ago, Mother went too far.

I had always known that Mother was a drug addict, it’s not like she tried to hide it.  But I had never realized just how far she would go.

One day, a dealer came to the apartment that we were staying in and I knew that Mother didn’t have the money to pay for the drugs.  This wasn’t uncommon.

Normally, when this happened Mother would offer her body for the drugs.  I had learned to ignore these instances and take the kids to a park or something.  But I couldn’t do that this time.

This dealer was a pedophile.

When Mother offered my baby brother, two years old at the time, to this man, I lost it.  To this day, I still can’t recall how hard I hit him, or for how long, but I do know that by the end of it, one of his men had called for an ambulance.

After that, Mother was furious with me, blaming me for her not getting what she wanted.

She’d done so in the past.  Normally, I just ignored it and moved on.  But this time, I was just as angry as she was, maybe even more so.

So I did something that I’d been taught never to do.

I took my siblings to the nearest payphone, and I called the cops.

When they found out what had happened, they arrested our Mother.  I was elated until I realized that they also wanted to put us into foster care.  I couldn’t let that happen.

Instead, I got emancipated and raised them myself.  At the time, I didn’t really view it as raising them.  To me it was just the same thing that I had been doing ever since they were born.

But somehow, Amy’s words made me remember that I had raised them.  And that I couldn’t let myself become like my mother.

That was the entire reason that I had avoided men since moving to Forks.  I didn’t want to risk the chance of becoming addicted to sex just like her.

After all, that was part of the reason that we had been treated the way that we had been.

Mana, Itsuki and I all have different fathers.  The only reason that we all had the same last name was because our mother couldn’t remember who our fathers were, though that name often confused the people that we met.

Our grandparents were apparently from Japan but had moved here to give birth to our mother.

However, Mother had had a taste for men of European descent.  As a result, we had all developed rather interesting features.

I had gotten what I assumed was my father’s pale blonde hair and dark blue eyes.  The things that made me stand out was the fact that my hair was bone straight without products and my facial features were all classic Asian: almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones, just slightly less flatter than most Asian women develop.  Also, my eyes have small black flecks in them that I have often seen in my mother’s.

Mana has curly red hair, but, rather than the expected green, she has our mother’s black flecked brown eyes.  She’s also a tiny little thing, just like Mother, though that might also be because I wasn’t able to feed her as much as I probably should have when she was a baby.

Itsuki is probably the most Asian looking of the three of us with his ashy brown hair and narrow eyes.  However, he’s tall for his age and has dark green eyes.

Yeah, we definitely attract attention when we go out, usually with people asking me if I decided to dye all of our hair and get us colored contacts.

That attention has always concerned me, especially since Mother is getting a parole hearing soon.  I wouldn’t put it past her to try to do something to punish us.

Still, as I put Mana and Itsuki to bed, the thing that really concerns me is that I have to remind myself of all the reasons why I  **shouldn’t** get involved with other people, especially men.

After all, if the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree and I end up being just like Mother around men, I could end up leaving these two all alone.

Despite this, as I go to sleep, I can’t help but think about Alice and Jasper.  For now, I’ll let myself think about them, since it looks like I can’t stop myself anyway, but tomorrow, I’ll have to do whatever I can to avoid them.

Too bad, they actually seemed like nice people.  Hopefully they’ll find out about the rumors about me soon and I won’t have to work to hard at it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alice**

After we saw Saya bring her children home, Jasper drove our car home.  I had planned on going with him, but had suddenly got the feeling that Saya was in danger.  It was strange, I hadn’t seen any visions of Saya being hurt, but I had seen eyes watching her.  I normally wouldn’t worry, but that vision had somehow filled me with a sense of panic.  There was nothing overtly threatening about it, but I could somehow feel menace coming from whoever those eyes belonged to.

As soon as I had managed to recover from the terror that those eyes had instilled in me, I told Jasper that we couldn’t leave Saya alone at night.  He looked so confused when I said this, but I couldn’t find the words to explain it.

Those eyes had been the eyes of a vampire, and, for whatever reason, seeing them had created a panic that I couldn’t contain.

Eventually, Jasper agreed to drive the car home and then come back for me.

As he did, I ran to the house and hid under the branches of the oak tree outside of Saya’s house.  After my vision, I wanted to run in and physically check that my mate was safe, but I knew that if I did that, then I would scare her, maybe to the point that she would never trust me.  Jasper had mentioned that we made her nervous before.

While it didn’t completely wash away my panic, seeing Saya walking around her kitchen with a small smile on her face did bring me a small amount of comfort.  Still, it made me curious about why she was smiling.

Carefully, I crept closer so that I could see what was happening inside the house.

Saya looked like she was chopping vegetables for dinner.  The little girl from earlier was sitting on the table and writing something.  Every so often, she would call out to Saya who would then write something on the page.  Maybe she was helping the girl with her homework.

The boy was on the other side of the table, writing on paper as well.  On second thought, the way that his hand is moving is too erratic for him to be actually writing anything.  Even a child’s handwriting isn’t that messy.

Belatedly, I realized that he is holding a crayon, not a pencil.  Still, just what is the boy drawing so enthusiastically?

Normally, I would know the answer to that question before I even came to town, but the same veil that kept me from clearly seeing Saya for all of these years has also kept me from seeing her children.  I didn’t even know that Saya had . . . siblings, are they? . . . until that woman at the school had told us.

I was so focused on trying to figure out the answers to my many questions, that I didn’t notice Jasper coming up behind me until he put his hand on his shoulder.

“Alice, what’s going on?” he asked me, concerned.

“I don’t know,” I said as I looked towards Saya.  “Ever since I started seeing glimpses of Saya, I’ve had no idea what would happen.  But as we were about to leave her, I remembered a fragment of a vision that I had, and I just couldn’t stand the thought of Saya being alone.”  I turned my head to look up at him and said, “I’m sorry.  I jumped to conclusions and created so much trouble.”

Jasper chuckled and kissed my forehead, saying, “You have always been trouble, dear.”  His levity soon faded as his worry began to show in his eyes.  “That being said, your visions let you see the future.  But maybe it’s also allowed you to sense danger that is to come.  There were a few newborns like that in the army.  They didn’t have a gift per se, but they could sense danger.  Maybe you’re the same way.”

We were silent for a while, just holding each other and watching the scene as it unfolded in the kitchen.  As we watched, the small family finished eating and Saya put the children to bed.

Before she went to bed though, she seemed to stare at a mirror for a few moments.  It didn’t seem to be a sign of vanity as she didn’t seem to really be seeing the mirror, only looking at it.

Seeing the worry in her eyes made my heart clench and Jasper tighten his hand on my shoulder, both of us knowing that we couldn’t do anything to make that worry disappear right now.

Once Saya finally went to bed, Jasper finally broke the silence that had existed between us since our conversation earlier.  He didn’t look at me, but his words were clearly an answer to my uncertainty.

“Whether or not Saya really is in danger, we can’t bring ourselves to leave her alone.  After we’ve spent so long searching for her, we can’t just let her go without ever actually knowing her.”

Silence reigned once more, both of us knowing that he was right.

As Saya’s alarm went off, we took turns going home to change our clothes and get ready for school.  Normally this would have taken five minutes for the both of us, but this time it took us almost a half an hour.

This was our first day with Saya, after all.  We had to look out best for our mate.


	7. Chapter 7

Saya

When my alarm went off, I could barely bring myself to move.  Even when I had managed to get a few fitful moments of sleep, those two transfer students plagued my dreams.

After lying in bed for a while, I forced myself to get up and start making breakfast.  Once that was done, I resigned myself to waking up my siblings.  Itsuki wasn’t that bad, but no matter how much sleep she got, Mana was always a pain to wake up.

Eventually, after many complaints and threats of throwing water on her, I managed to get both of them up and ready for school.  Still in my pajamas, I took them over to Amy’s house so that she could drive them to school with her kids.

Finally alone, I hurried through my shower and began to run to the school.  As always, getting the kids ready had just about made me late for school.  Every day, I was either late to class or just barely on time, but I couldn’t leave earlier or I’d end up leaving them alone until Amy wakes up.

I really can’t wait until I get the chance to get a license, though I doubt I’ll be able to afford a car.  Damn.

Just barely beating the bell, I managed to get to English only to have another shock.  Jasper Hale was in front of the teacher’s desk.

Quickly, I remembered that they had only been in school yesterday to finalize their transfer, but hadn’t attended any classes, and I was in a senior level class anyway, so it made sense that I might end up having a few classes with them.  I’d just have to ignore them.

Which would be a lot easier if I couldn’t see Mr. Masen gesturing for Jasper to take the seat next to mine.

Resolutely staring at my homework, I hoped that he would leave me alone.  Those hopes were dashed as he said politely, “I hope that you were okay last night after we dropped you off.”

Immediately, the two girls who sat in front of us stopped trying to pretend that they weren’t eavesdropping on us, and turned so that they could unabashedly stare at us.  Wonderful.

Gritting my teeth, I told him, “Yes, I was fine last night.  Thank you for your help.”

“Of course, darlin’, it was our pleasure.”

Feeling all of our classmates’ eyes on us as he leaned closer to me, I decided that it was time to clear up all of the confusion and get him away from me once and for all.  “It’s Jasper, right?”  At his nod, I continued, “Look Jasper, I get that you’re new and probably trying to make friends with everybody.  Or maybe you just want someone to fuck.”  I resisted the urge to stop when I saw the hurt look that flashed across his face.  I couldn’t let this . . . whatever it was continue between me and the Cullens.  I had to end it now.  “Either way, I don’t care.  So just go and find someone else to do it with.  I can promise you that there are plenty of pretty girls around who would just love to be able to do whatever it is you want with you, but I’m not one of them.”  Finally sure that he wouldn’t be coming with me anytime soon, I breathed out a sigh of relief while ignoring the small pain in my heart.  Why the hell should I care if he was hurt, I don’t even know him.

I tried my best to ignore the small voice in the back of my mind telling me that that just made it even more amazing that he had helped me get home last night.

As class came to an end, I quickly stuffed out new assignment into my bag, and got ready to leave when I heard his voice.  “You’re not wrong.”  Shocked, I turned towards him as he continued, “I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have any ulterior motives.  I spoke to you yesterday, and helped you yesterday because I was hoping that we could talk.”  He hesitated for a moment before admitting, “You seem to be scared of being hurt, as though someone has harmed you in the past.  But Saya, I can assure you that that has never been my intention.  While I have not told you everything there is to know about me and my . . . involvement in your life, I can assure you that I only wish to know you, and I hope that you will allow me that pleasure.”  Meeting my eyes, he said, “Please believe me when I tell you that I would never harm you, regardless of what you decide about my existence in your life.”

Looking into those bright amber eyes, I was overcome by the desire to believe his words, to trust him.  It was as though with those simple, honest words, he had completely broken through all of the walls that I had built to protect myself from others, as though he really did see all of the fear and pain I had felt for years, that he understood all of the things I had done in the past, and he didn’t blame me for them.  That thought drew me, that maybe this stranger, and despite what the pixie had said last night, that is what he is, might be willing to learn about my past, that he might understand all of the things I’ve done and accept me, as damaged as I am, was something that I had never even bothered to wish for before, and now it was all but being offered to me by the man with clear bright amber eyes.

And then the spell was broken by the bell, and I ran as quickly as I could, wishing that I’d never have to stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry for the long wait. I just want to let you guys know that I will definitely finish this story, but depending on my inspiration, motivation and just life in general, it's probably going to take a while. So please be patient, but if you really want a chapter, let me know and I'll try my best to get it you as soon as I can.


	8. Chapter 8

Jasper

Hearing Saya, my mate, the girl that I had already begun to care about, tell me that she didn’t need me, didn’t even want me, hurt more than anything I had ever felt during the vampire wars.  Because it wasn’t just a physical ache, or a broken heart caused by knowing that no one really cared for me for anything other than my power.  This was different.

I’ve heard that when a vampire finds their mate, it completes them because they were once the same soul.  Others say that their mates are the one person in existence who can really understand them and that is the reason for our attraction to them.  I’d never really paid much attention to things like that until I met Alice, and I finally began to feel whole.  But this entire time, we’ve both been missing something, some _one_.  And she could finally make us complete.

For some reason, I think that Alice and I both assumed that after we told our human mate the truth about us, everything would be smooth sailing.  That we’d turn her and be together for the rest of our lives.

But that is no longer an option.  Not only do we not want to upset Saya by forcing that choice on her, I already know that Saya would refuse.  Last night, even though I never entered the house, I could still feel Saya’s emotions.  I could feel how happy she was just to be near the little ones and, if we turned her, we’d be taking that happiness away forever.  Saya could never be near the children again.  Even after she got her bloodlust under control, she still wouldn’t age.

The only question is what kind of future that leaves for us.  Will Saya choose to never become a vampire, to live her life as a human along with her children?  If that truly does happen, I don’t think that Alice and I will live much longer than she does.  Even though we’ve only just met her, and have barely had a single civil conversation, I already love her, and I know that Alice feels the same.  I can feel her devotion to Saya, and I know that neither of us will be able to take Saya’s children away from her.  Being with Esme had already taught us that Saya may never fully recover from losing those kids.

When class began to wind down, I knew that I had to explain something to her.  Even if she would eventually break our hearts, both Alice and I knew from the moment that we laid eyes on her that we had to know her, to love her.  Carefully trying to figure out the words that would put Saya at ease, I realised that I couldn’t start our relationship with a lie.  Saya would never be able to forgive me if I were to lie to her now, her fear of betrayal was too strong.  So I told her all that I could without giving away our secret.

For a moment, I thought that I had gotten through to her, that she might really let me get to know her.  But the moment the bell rang, she ran from me as quickly as she could.  Her panic almost consumed me.  Could it be that she is scared of trusting me?  Could she have had a bad experience?

Sighing, I began to leave for my next class.  As much as I would have liked to chase Saya down, I know that it would only make things worse.  Hopefully I’ll find another chance to try to talk to her.  After all, we do have several of the same classes thanks to Alice.

As I walked out of the door, I was surprised when Alice stepped up to walk next to me.  Seeing her, I couldn’t help but be ashamed that I may not have ruined only my happiness, but her’s as well.

Just as I was about to apologise, Alice cut me off.  “Don’t worry, we have plenty of time to woo Saya.  For now, let’s just try to get her to talk to us.  I have a pottery class with her right before lunch, so I’ll try to talk to her then.  You do have two classes with her before then, but those teachers plan to use an alphabetical seating chart.  If all goes well, I might be able to get her to eat lunch with us.”

“Wouldn’t she rather eat lunch with someone she knows better?” I asked, surprised.

Alice’s eyes became unfocused for a few seconds, showing that she was searching the future, before she came back to me and said, “No, she’s going to eat in the library.  Actually she isn’t eating much, I don’t think it’s healthy for a human to eat that little,” she reported with a worried frown.  Alice shook her head and continued, “Anyway, from what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard being said, it seems that our initial assumptions were right.  Saya’s a loner, at school at least.”

“So you think you can get her to eat lunch with us?” I asked, though Alice’s eyes told me that she could see through to what I wasn’t asking: whether Saya would eat with me.

“Definitely,” Alice chirped before she apparently had another vision which caused her to squeal.  “It looks like someone is dropping out of Saya’s Pre-Calculus class.  I’ll have to see if I can transfer in.”

Amused at Alice’s constant machinations to get together with our mate, I dropped her off at her class before hurrying to mine.  I didn’t really care if I made it on time or not, but I wanted to build up a good reputation.  At worst, it would get us some leeway with the teachers and staff.  At best, it might help to throw off any suspicions that we aren’t human.  After all, who ever heard of an immortal who cares about the rules?  There certainly aren’t any in those ridiculous books human girls are always reading.

This brought my thoughts to whether or not Saya liked those kinds of books, or even reading in general, which brought on more worry about what it would be like to be in class with her.

As the day wore on, I remembered why I never did take bets against Alice, as Saya went out of her way to avoid me during class, slightly aided by the teachers’ seating arrangements.  While I walked to my sixth period class, I could help but hope that Alice would be able to work yet another miracle to drive us all together.


	9. Chapter 9

Saya

After my odd confrontation with Jasper, I hoped that I would be able to avoid him for the rest of the day, only to find that he apparently had multiple classes with me, which wasn’t really so surprising, considering that I was in the advanced core classes that the school offers.  Luckily in the classes that I had with him, the teachers had an alphabetical seating chart.  Occasionally I would notice him watching me, particularly when I was leaving.

A few times, I considered talking to him, if only to ease the guilt that I felt for my tirade against him, and sometimes because I wished, if only for a few seconds, that I might be able to really put some faith in what he had told me earlier.  When would I learn that trusting other people, especially men, was a bad idea?

At the end of my European History class, I had to practically run from the room before I could do something foolish.  When I was finally out of sight of the building, I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that I was finally away from him.  While there was no guarantee that I wouldn’t see him later, I had Pottery next, and somehow Jasper Hale didn’t strike me as the sort to enjoy making a bowl out of clay, so hopefully I’d get a brief reprieve if nothing else.

What I didn’t expect when I walked through the door was to see Alice Cullen, my other concern, to be waiting by the doorway.  As soon as she saw me her face lit up and I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d have to treat her the same way that I did to Jasper to get her to leave me alone.  It was bad enough to do that to him, but somehow doing it to both of them made it feel like my heart was breaking.

Seemingly not noticing the worried that had come up in my mind, the pixie nearly bounced over to give me a hug.  “Hi, Saya.”

I muttered a quiet “Hi” and walked to my seat, hoping that that would be the end of it.  But with my luck, of course things wouldn’t be that easy as the teacher pointed to the seat next to mine after Alice finished speaking with her.  As soon as she sat down though, the teacher began to go over what was expected of us this month.  Yesterday, she had explained that we would be expected to turn in at least one project every month which she would dictate to us, but that we could hand in multiple projects either for extra credit, or if we were uncertain about how our first one had come out.

Idly, I considered dropping the class since I had really only taken it so that I wouldn’t have two study halls.  While the idea of using one of them to relax would be tempting, in the end I decided against it because I really didn’t like being idle for a long time and having almost an hour of idleness every day would probably really irritate me.

Sighing, I remembered that the other reason I took the class was because I’d always liked making things, and as I began to work on the bowl that we had been told to make, I realised that that hadn’t changed, even after all these years.  For a few moments, I held onto the hope that Alice would have heard about what I said to her boyfriend, or so the rumors called him, and would ignore me.

Those hopes were dashed when I heard her quietly say, “You seemed to really be enjoying that.”

Reluctantly, I turned towards her and said, “I like making things, even stuff like this.”

“So you don’t think that bowls are important?” she asked curiously.  Trying to figure out if I should just nip this conversation in the bud, I hesitated but was saved from doing so by her saying casually, “You know, you don’t have to be so guarded around us.”

Shocked, I stopped working on my bowl to stare at her, something which caused her to look up from her own bowl to meet my eyes.  “Jasper and I talk, and I know that you are scared of associating with us, for whatever reason.  And I won’t try to talk you out of that fear, but don’t you think that we at least deserve a chance to explain our side of things, Saya?”

Swallowing, I realised that she did have a point.  I hadn’t really let them explain themselves to me, the same way that the town hadn’t allowed me to explain myself.  Despite that minor epiphany, I still said, “And what happens if you get that chance and I find out I was right all along?”

“Then you find out that it was a mistake to give us that chance.  But you might also find that you are wrong about us and that we can help you.”

“Well, I’m sorry if I am wrong, but I don’t think I can give you that,” I said, surprised that my words are actually true.

“Is it because of your children?” Alice asked me quietly.  At my surprised look, she explained, “You looked as though you were considering it for a moment, but then you said no, so it must have had something to do with something that you remembered.”

“You shouldn’t believe rumors,” I told her sharply, for some reason it bothered me that she would assume that they really are my kids.

“I don’t, but Jasper and I saw you getting them from your neighbor when we dropped you off last night and we didn’t see any cars that might belong to your parents at your home,” Alice explained.  After a moment, she said, “Saya, you seem to think that we would try to harm them, but I can assure you that we would never do hurt children.  We certainly don’t want to hurt you, either.  Can’t you, just for a little while, talk to us and then decide if you’ll let us be your friends?”

I noticed a slight hesitation before she said that last word, making me worry once more about what they might be planning, but I couldn’t help but be drawn in by the idea of having someone who wasn’t in elementary school in my life, someone who I could really talk to.

While I was hesitating, our teacher seemed to realise that we were talking instead of making bowls, and snapped at us to get back to work.  As I turned back, I decided that as long as I didn’t get too involved with the Cullens, it wouldn’t hurt to talk to them, just for a little bit and I murmured, “Okay,” even though I didn’t expect Alice to hear me, though her bright smile assured me that she had.


	10. Chapter 10

Saya

Throughout the rest of the class, I just about drove myself insane, second guessing my decision, trying to figure out if it was a mistake.  In the end, my worrying got me nothing but a headache and a ruined bowl from when I had gripped the clay just a bit too hard and caused it to collapse.

And of course, my teacher had to take notice of me at that exact moment and say that I might need help making my next one.  Before she could start that, of course Alice had to come in and say that she could help me since she had already finished her bowl, and I couldn’t come up with a reason to dissuade the teacher, especially since I didn’t need it getting back to the court that I was having trouble in one of my classes.  Although, I wasn’t sold that being helped by Alice would help me to keep my grade in this class up.

Surprisingly enough, as Alice began to walk me through the basics of making a bowl, most of which I already knew, I realised that she was actually a good teacher.  She didn’t try to convince me to become friends with her and Jasper again, only watching my hands as they shaped the bowl and pointing at certain parts of the bowl that had become uneven due to my hands not being perfectly steady.

By the time the bell rang, both Alice and myself had finished our projects for the month, though I could see that many people were still having trouble with it.  The teacher had told us that we could either use the class as a study hall until the time came for us to work on our next project, or we could begin working on our next project now and hand it in whenever we finished.  Deciding to wait and see what happened with the rest of my classes, I went back to my seat to pack my things, only to be surprised as Alice looped her arm through mine, chirping, “You did say that you’d give us a chance, remember?”

As she dragged me to the lunchroom, she seemed to know that I didn’t have any sort of lunch packed in my locker.  Normally I’d have tried to bring something with me, but I was too rushed this morning, what with school starting up again, so I’d left without anything.

I would have wondered at her confidence in knowing that I didn’t have anything that I needed to get if I wasn’t being quickly carried away by Alice’s enthusiasm.

“It’s great that we were able to finish our projects for the month.  It’ll be great to have an extra study hall for the rest of the month, especially if we get a lot of homework in our other classes, don’t you think, Saya?”

Slightly confused by Alice’s rapid speech and cheerfulness, it took me a couple seconds to recover enough to say, “Yeah, it’ll be good if I don’t have to do homework after school.  Last year I had some trouble with having to do it during my breaks at work.”

“That sounds tough,” Alice sympathised.  “But I could help you if you ever need help studying for the tests or with the homework, since we have pottery together.”

“Thanks,” I said, though I wasn’t sure I’d really take her up on that offer.  It wasn’t until later though, that I realised that I had actually told her more about my life at home than I had ever told anyone else in this school since I had gotten here.

When we got to the cafeteria, Alice led me to a table where Jasper was already sitting with three trays of food in front of him.  As Alice let go of me, she kissed him on the cheek before sitting down next to him.  Seeing me behind her, Jasper smiled at me and said, “I hope you don’t mind, darlin’, but I grabbed some food for you while I was getting ours.”

As I sat down, I said, “Sorry to bother you like that.  I’ll pay you back,” while also assuring myself that it wouldn’t be an issue with my budget so long as it didn’t become a habit.

“No need, darlin’, I got it for you because I wanted to.”

Seeming to sense my hackles going up, Alice quickly cut in, “We don’t mind doing things for you, Saya.  We want to help you.”

Sighing, I decided that I had more important things to worry about than the fact that these two had bought me lunch, and besides, I was pretty hungry anyway.  As I took a bite of pizza, I remembered why I’d never had an issue with the fact that I didn’t buy school lunches.

_ Damn, how are people supposed to survive off of this stuff? _

Seeing my expression, Alice said, “The food at this school isn’t any better than at other schools, is it?”

Swallowing, I said, “That’s right, you guys just transferred here.  Where did you live before?”

“Alaska.  Our family seems to always wind up in cold climates,” Alice said cheerfully, apparently not minding freezing.

I started looking at my tray, trying to find something that didn’t look like it would kill me when I realised how far off topic I had already gotten since we had sat down.  What was it about these people that managed to always make me forget what I need to do?


End file.
